Former Iowa recruiting coordinator left to open a Culver's, and now he's joining Wisconsin football

Former college football coach Eric Johnson at the Hendersonville Culver's restaurant July 26, 2016.(Photo: Andy Humbles/The Tennessean)

It makes sense that someone under the spell of Culver's — one of Wisconsin's greatest treasures — would become enamored of Wisconsin at large.

This is clearly what happened to Eric Johnson, former recruiting director for the University of Iowa's football program.

According to LinkedIn, and relayed by a tweet from The Athletic reporter Scott Dochterman, Johnson has started a job as executive director of football administration at the University of Wisconsin after nearly five years running a Culver's in Tennessee.

Former Iowa recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson, who left the program to open a Culver’s franchise in Nashville, apparently has returned to football at Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/kCjipdtLTF

Since 2014, he's owned and operated a Culver's in Mt. Juliet, just east of Nashville. It's a job he started after leaving Iowa following 14 seasons in the program, starting strictly as recruiting coordinator in 2000 and then adding the role of tight ends coach in 2003. He switched to defensive line coach in 2011, all the while maintaining his recruiting role.

“I wanted to have more time to be a dad, I wasn’t being a good enough father to be honest with you and I wanted to change venues,” Johnson said in 2014 to The Tennessean.

“I worked for what I thought was the best organization in college football,” said Johnson, who attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “No regrets, none at all. I like the business world. It was a chance to run my own business.”